Electronic device holder

ABSTRACT

According to one embodiment, a holder attaches a first electronic device and a second electronic device to a display. The holder includes a base structure, a first holder section, and a second holder section. The first holder section at a first portion of the base structure holds the second electronic device and includes a first through hole that receives a first male screw to be screwed into a first female screw of the first electronic device. The second holder section at a second portion of the base structure holds the second electronic device and includes a second through hole that receives a second male screw to be screwed into a second female screw of the first electronic device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional application of U.S. application Ser.No. 16/038,943, filed Jul. 18, 2018 (now U.S. Publication No.2019/0186685), which is based upon and claims the benefit of priorityfrom Japanese Patent Application No. 2017-241772, filed Dec. 18, 2017,the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD

Embodiments described herein relate generally to a holder that attachesan electronic device to a display.

BACKGROUND

A small-sized electronic device such as a personal computer (hereinafterreferred to as a PC) may be attached to a display. On the backside ofthe display, a mount that attaches a stand or supporting column theretois provided. It is difficult to directly attach the PC to the display,and hence a holder to which the PC is attached or in which the PC isstored may be attached to the mount. In general, the number of types ofinterface ports for electrical connection of a small-sized PC to anexternal device is small, and hence a port expansion adaptor thatexpands the types of interfaces may be electrically connected to asmall-sized PC. However, there is no useful means for collectivelyattaching these devices to the display.

A conventional holder that attaches an electronic device such as a PC orthe like to the display cannot collectively attach another electronicdevice required to use the small-sized PC such as a port expansionadaptor or the like in addition to the electronic device such as thesmall-sized PC.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A general architecture that implements the various features of theembodiments will now be described with reference to the drawings. Thedrawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrate theembodiments and not to limit the scope of the invention.

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of a holderattaching a mobile PC and adaptor to a display according to a firstembodiment.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing an example of the holder.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing an example of the holder.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an example of the holder.

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of a holderattaching a mobile PC and adaptor to a display according to a secondembodiment.

FIG. 6 is a rear view of an example of a first holder section to whichthe mobile PC is to be attached viewed from the display side.

FIG. 7 is a side view of an example of the first holder section.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an example of the first holder sectionattached to a second holder section viewed from the display side.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing an example of the holder accordingto the second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of the holderof the second embodiment attached to a display including a recessed-typeVESA mount as an example of application.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments will be described hereinafter with reference to theaccompanying drawings. The disclosure is merely an example and is notlimited by contents described in the embodiments described below.Modification which is easily conceivable by a person of ordinary skillin the art comes within the scope of the disclosure as a matter ofcourse. In order to make the description clearer, the sizes, shapes andthe like of the respective portions may be changed and illustratedschematically in the drawings as compared with those in an accuraterepresentation. Constituent elements corresponding to each other in aplurality of drawings are denoted by like reference numerals and theirdetailed descriptions may be omitted unless necessary.

In general, according to one embodiment, a holder attaches a firstelectronic device and a second electronic device to a display. Theholder includes:

a base structure comprising a base plate, the base plate comprising agroup of through holes that receives a group of male screws to bescrewed into a group of female screws of the display;

a first holder section at a first portion of the base structure, thefirst holder section holding the second electronic device and comprisinga first through hole that receives a first male screw to be screwed intoa first female screw of the first electronic device; and

a second holder section at a second portion of the base structure, thesecond holder section holding the second electronic device andcomprising a second through hole that receives a second male screw to bescrewed into a second female screw of the first electronic device.

Examples of an electronic device to be attached to a display by using aholder according to an embodiment may include a small-sized portablemobile PC. The small-sized portable mobile PC may not include a displayor a hardware keyboard in order to enhance downsizing and portabilityand/or flexibility in use by the user. When the mobile PC is usedtogether with a wearable device or when the mobile PC is used as awearable device, a hardware keyboard is unnecessary. When the mobile PCis used by being electrically connected to a wearable device of aneyeglass type or a head mount type, a display is unnecessary. When ahardware keyboard and a display are electrically connected to the mobilePC, the mobile PC is used as a desktop PC. In this case, when the mobilePC is attached to the backside of the display, a space-saving desktop PCis realized. The keyboard is not limited to the hardware keyboard, and asoftware keyboard displayed on a screen of the display may also be used.

Interfaces for external electrical connection of the mobile PC arelimited due to demands for downsizing or the like. For example, themobile PC is provided with a USB type-C (registered trade mark)connector, but may not be provided with an HDMI (registered trade mark)connector or a wired LAN connector. It is possible to electricallyconnect a port expansion adaptor provided with an HDMI connector, awired LAN connector and the like to the USB type-C connector of themobile PC, transmit a video signal from the mobile PC to the portexpansion adaptor through a USB type-C cable, and then transmit thevideo signal from the HDMI connector of the port expansion adaptor tothe display. When not only the mobile PC but also the port expansionadaptor is attached to the backside of the display, a furtherspace-saving desktop PC with better operability is realized.

Although the electronic device is not limited to the small-sized mobilePC, here an embodiment of a holder that attaches the mobile PC and theport expansion adaptor to the display will be described as an example.

First Embodiment

A holder according to a first embodiment will be described withreference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 4. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective viewshowing an example of the holder attaching the mobile PC and the portexpansion adaptor to the display according to the first embodiment. FIG.2 is a front view showing an example of the holder. FIG. 3 is a sideview showing an example of the holder. FIG. 4 is a perspective viewshowing an example of the holder.

As shown in FIG. 1, a holder 10 is fixed to a backside 13 of a display12 with four male screws 15. A mobile PC 100 and a port expansionadaptor 102 are attached to the holder 10. A front 17 of the display 12is a display surface that displays an image. The lateral direction ofthe display 12 is the X direction, the longitudinal direction of thedisplay 12 is the Y direction, and depth direction of the display 12 isthe Z direction. Although the display 12 is, for example, a liquidcrystal display device, the display 12 is not limited to this, and maybe an organic EL display or the like.

The external appearance of the mobile PC 100 is a thin rectangularparallelepiped shape with a width of about 10 cm or less, height ofabout 20 cm or less, and thickness of about 2 cm or less, and a weightthereof is about 300 g or less. Accordingly, the mobile PC 100 can beheld in a pocket of the work clothing, holster to be attached to a beltor a shoulder case, whereby the PC 100 is portable.

Although the mobile PC 100 incorporates therein semiconductor chips suchas the CPU, semiconductor memory, and the like, and storage devices suchas a Solid State Drive (SSD), and the like, the mobile PC 100 is notprovided with a display and a hardware keyboard. A fingerprint sensor108 is provided at a central portion of the front of mobile PC 100. Thefingerprint sensor 108 is used for user authentication at the time oflogin of the mobile PC 100. Between the fingerprint sensor 108 and oneend of the mobile PC 100 in the longitudinal direction thereof, fivebuttons 106 are provided. The five buttons 106 include a decision buttonarranged at the center and four buttons arranged above and below and oneither side of the decision button. The five buttons 106 are used toinput a command or the like when a hardware keyboard is not electricallyconnected to the mobile PC 100. It should be noted that the five buttons106 may be allocated to numeric characters to input a password, and userauthentication at the time of login may thereby be carried out, thisenabling omission of the fingerprint sensor 108. Although not shown, thepower for the mobile PC 100 may be supplied from an AC adaptor or may besupplied from an internal rechargeable battery.

Although not shown, two female screws are formed in the backside of themobile PC 100 at two positions, and two male screws 40 are screwed intothe female screws through the holder 10, whereby the mobile PC 100 isfixed to the holder 10. Accordingly, the holder 10 is provided with twothrough holes 42 and 48 into which the two male screws 40 are inserted.The mobile PC 100 is attached to the holder 10 in such a direction thatthe five buttons 106 are positioned above. The attaching direction ofthe holder 10 will be described later with reference to FIG. 2 and FIG.3. A USB type-C connector 112 is provided in a side face of one endportion of the mobile PC 100 in the longitudinal direction thereofcloser to the five buttons 106.

Although details will be described with reference to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3,the holder 10 includes an adaptor storage space that stores therein theport expansion adaptor 102, and one end of the adaptor storage space isopened, thereby forming an insertion opening. The port expansion adaptor102 is inserted into the adaptor storage space through the insertionopening or is drawn out of the adaptor storage space through theinsertion opening. A USB type-C cable 104 is led out of one end of theport expansion adaptor 102. The holder 100 stores therein the portexpansion adaptor 102 is attached to the display in such a manner thatthe USB type-C cable 104 is positioned above. As shown in FIG. 4, aconnector at a distal end of the USB type-C cable 104 is connected tothe USB type-C connector 112 of the mobile PC 100. In the side face(left side face in FIG. 1) of the port expansion adaptor 102 when viewedfrom the display backside in the case where the port expansion adaptor102 is attached to the display 12 in a state in which the port expansionadaptor 102 is stored in the holder 10, an HDMI connector 114, USB3.0(registered trade mark) connector, wired LAN connector, and the like areprovided. The HDMI connector 114 is electrically connected to an HDMIconnector 118 provided in the backside of the display 12 through an HDMIcable 116.

A VESA mount section 29 in which a screw hole diameter, a screw pitch,withstand load, size of a fixing surface, and the like are specified bythe Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) standard is providedin the backside of the display 12. In the VESA standard, there are twosizes associated with screw arrangement. Female screws are formed atpositions corresponding to four corners of a square, and the size of thesquare includes a first size of 100 mm×100 mm, and a second size of 75mm×75 mm. A center of the square of the first size and a center of thesquare of the second size are coincident with each other. Although it issufficient if the VESA mount section 29 supports one type of size, thereis a VESA mount section in which two types of female screws are formedin order to support the two types of sizes. FIG. 1 shows an example inwhich four female screws 30 provided at positions corresponding to thefour corners of the square of 100 mm×100 mm, and four female screws 32provided at positions corresponding to the four corners of the square of75 mm×75 mm are formed. The VESA mount section 29 has the two types ofsizes, and hence when the holder 10 is configured in such a manner as tosupport both the sizes, through holes 26 are also formed at fourpositions of the holder 10 corresponding to the four female screws 30 ofthe VESA mount section 29, and through holes 28 are formed at fourpositions corresponding to the four female screws 32.

The mobile PC 100 is fixed to the holder 10 with the two male screws 40.The holder 10 is fixed to the VESA mount section 29 with four malescrews 15. Although FIG. 1 shows an example in which the male screws 15are screwed into the female screws 30 of the first size, the male screws15 may be screwed into the female screws 32 of the second size.

The holder 10 is fixed to the backside of the display 12 and, thereafterthe port expansion adaptor 102 is inserted from above into the adaptorstorage space of the holder 10 as indicated by an arrow of FIG. 1.Thereby, the mobile PC 100 and port expansion adaptor 102 are attachedto the display 12 by using the holder 10. Moreover, the port expansionadaptor 102 is detachably attached.

Details of the holder 10 will be described below with reference to FIG.2 and FIG. 3. The holder 10 is formed of a base plate 14, an upperholding section 16, and a lower holding section 18 which are formed of aresin or the like and integral with each other as one body. The spacesurrounded with the base plate 14, the upper holding section 16, and thelower holding section 18 is the adaptor storage space that storestherein the port expansion adaptor 102. The upper holding section 16forms a releasing section, and the port expansion adaptor 102 isinserted into the adaptor storage space through the releasing section,or is drawn out of the adaptor storage space through the releasingsection. The surface of the holder 10 or base plate 14 on the display 12side is referred to as a backside, and the surface on the opposite sidethereof is referred to as a front or front surface.

The base plate 14 has an approximately flat plate-like shape, andincludes a projection portion 20 a front edge of which is formed into asemicircular shape at each of four corners of the base plate 14, i.e.,right and left corners on the upper and lower sides. An upper edge 22 ofthe base plate 14 is aligned with an upper end of each of the projectionportions 20 on both the upper right and left sides, and a lower edge 24of the base plate 14 is linearly continuous with a lower end of each ofthe projection portions 20 on both the lower right and left sides.

In each of the projection portions 20 of the base plate 14, each of thefour through holes 26 and 28 are provided. The four male screws 15 to bescrewed into the four female screws 30 or 32 of the VESA mount section29 are passed through the through holes 26 or 28. More specifically, thefour through holes 26 are arranged at four corners of the square of 100mm×100 mm, and the four through holes 28 are arranged at four corners ofthe square of 75 mm×75 mm.

As shown in FIG. 2, at an approximately central portion in the verticaldirection of a base plate central portion 19, two guide plates 34slightly protruding from the base plate 14 are provided separately fromeach other. The two guide plates 34 are provided with an intervalcorresponding to the width of the port expansion adaptor 102 heldbetween them, and are provided to support the port expansion adaptor 102at both sides thereof, and smoothly carry out attachment/detachment ofthe port expansion adaptor 102.

The upper holding section 16 is provided with a pair of supportingguides 36 forwardly protruding from both the right and left sides of theupper portion of the base plate 14, and flat-plate-like coupling plate38 that couples the right and left supporting guides 36 to each other.The supporting guides 36 are approximately perpendicular to the baseplate 14, and the coupling plate 38 is approximately parallel to thebase plate 14. The supporting guides 36 and the coupling plate 38 may beformed integral with each other. As indicated by an arrow in FIG. 1, theport expansion adaptor 102 can be inserted into the holder 10 throughthe insertion opening formed by the base plate 14, the supporting guides36, and the coupling plate 38 or to be drawn out of the holder 10through the insertion opening. The size of the insertion opening isdetermined such that there is somewhat room inside relative to thecross-sectional size of the port expansion adaptor 102. In the couplingplate 38 of the upper holding section 16, a through hole 42 used to passthe male screw 40 to be screwed into the female screw provided in themobile PC 100 is provided.

The lower holding section 18 is provided with a bottom plate 44forwardly protruding from a lower portion of the base plate 14, and afront plate 46 rising from the bottom plate 44 and upwardly extendingtoward the upper portion of the base plate 14 approximately in parallelwith the base plate 14. The base plate 14, the bottom plate 44, and thefront plate 46 constitute the adaptor storage space that longitudinallystores therein the port expansion adaptor 102. The lower end of the portexpansion adaptor 102 inserted through the insertion opening of theupper holding section 16 is received by the bottom plate 44.

In the upper portion of the front plate 46, a through hole 48 thatpasses the male screw 40 (see FIG. 1) to be screwed into the femalescrew provided in the mobile PC 100 is provided. The through hole 48 isprovided at the center of a screw section 49. The distance between thethrough hole 42 provided in the coupling plate 38 and through hole 48provided in the front plate 46 is equal to the distance between thefemale screws provided in the mobile PC 100.

It should be noted that although an engaging piece 47 is also formed onthe front plate 46, the engaging piece 47 is used in the secondembodiment, and is not used in the first embodiment, and hence adescription thereof is omitted here.

Next, an example of a procedure for attaching the mobile PC 100 and theport expansion adaptor 102 to the display 12 by using the holder 10 ofthe first embodiment will be described below. First, the two male screws40 are passed through the through holes 42 and 48 provided in thecoupling plate 38 and the front plate 46 of the holder 10, and the twomale screws 40 are screwed into the two female screws (not shown in thedrawings) provided in the mobile PC 100. Thereby, the mobile PC 100 isfixed to the holder 10.

When the mobile PC 100 has been fixed to the holder 10, the four malescrews 15 are passed through the through holes 26 or 28 provided in theprojection portions 20 of the holder 10, and the four male screws 15 arescrewed into the four female screws 30 or 32 of the VESA mount section29 provided on the backside of the display 12. Although FIG. 1 shows anexample in which the male screws 15 are screwed into the female screws30 of the first size, the male screws 15 may also be screwed into thefemale screws 32 of the second size.

Thereby, the holder 10 is fixed to the display 12, and the mobile PC 100is fixed to the backside 13 of the display 12 through the holder 10.Then, the port expansion adaptor 102 is inserted into the adaptorstorage space surrounded with the base plate 14, the upper holdingsection 16, and the lower holding section 18 through the releasingsection of the upper holding section 16 of the holder 10 fixed to thedisplay 12. The port expansion adaptor 102 is inserted into the adaptorstorage space such that the USB type-C cable 104 is positioned above.

When the lower portion of the port expansion adaptor 102 inserted intothe adaptor storage space through the releasing section of the upperholding section 16 comes into contact with the bottom plate 44 of thelower holding section 18, the port expansion adaptor 102 is securelyheld in the holder 10 by the upper holding section 16 and the lowerholding section 18 in a state where the port expansion adaptor 102 iscaught by the front plate 46 and the base plate 14.

When the port expansion adaptor 102 is held in the holder 10, the USBtype-C cable 104 is inserted into the USB type-C connector 112 of themobile PC 100 to thereby electrically connect the port expansion adaptor102 and the mobile PC 100 to each other. Furthermore, the HDMI connector114 of the port expansion adaptor 102 and the HDMI connector 118provided in the backside of the display 12 are electrically connected toeach other through the HDMI cable 116, whereby the mobile PC 100 iselectrically connected to the display 12. This state is shown in FIG. 4.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, the holder 10 canattach the mobile PC 100 and the port expansion adaptor 102 serving asan accessory thereof to the display 12. The port expansion adaptor 102is interposed between the rear surface of the display 12 and thebackside of the mobile PC 100, and hence what are required of theadaptor storage space of the holder 10 for storing therein the portexpansion adaptor 102 with respect to the front-back direction are onlythe upper holding section 16, the lower holding section 18, and theguide plates 34, and hence the configuration of the holder 10 is simple.The mobile PC 100 is screwed to the holder 10 from the inside of theholder 10, and hence it is difficult to easily detach the mobile PC 100from the holder 10. Thereby, an effect of deterring that the small-sizedmobile PC 100 is maliciously detached or is stolen can be expected.

The port expansion adaptor 102 is not fixed to the holder 10 withscrews, and is only stored in the space defined by the upper holdingsection 16, the lower holding section 18 and the guide plates 34, andhence can be easily detached from the holder 10. When the mobile PC 100is not used, it is possible to connect the port expansion adaptor 102 tosome other device and use it. Alternatively, when a software keyboard isdisplayed on the screen by an application program, the unnecessary portexpansion adaptor 102 can be detached.

Second Embodiment

A holder according to a second embodiment will be described below withreference to FIG. 5 to FIG. 9. FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective viewshowing an example of the holder according to the second embodiment forattaching a mobile PC and adaptor to a display. FIG. 6 is a rear view ofan example of a first holder section to which the mobile PC is attachedviewed from the display side. FIG. 7 is a side view of an example of thefirst holder section. FIG. 8 is a perspective view of an example of thefirst holder section attached to a second holder section viewed from thedisplay side. FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing an example of theholder according to the second embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 5, a holder 202 of the second embodiment is providedwith the holder 10 (referred to as a first holder section 10A in thesecond embodiment) of the first embodiment and a second holder section50. The second holder section 50 detachably stores therein the mobile PC100, and is detachably attached to the front side of the first holdersection 10A. Although the first holder section 10A of the secondembodiment may be identical to the holder 10 of the first embodiment,the through hole 42 of the coupling plate 38 and the through hole 48 ofthe front plate 46 are not used, and hence may be omitted. Further, theengaging piece 47 not used in the holder 10 of the first embodiment isused to detachably attach the second holder section 50 to the firstholder section 10A in the second embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 6, FIG. 7, and FIG. 8, the second holder section 50 isprovided with a holding plate 52, a pair of right and left supportingguides 54 provided at a lower portion of the holding plate 52, and abottom plate 56 forwardly protruding from the lower portion of theholding plate 52. The holding plate 52, the supporting guides 54, andthe bottom plate 56 may be formed integral with each other as one body.The holding plate 52 has an approximately plate-like rectangular shape,and a window 58 is provided at a central portion thereof.

As shown in FIG. 6, FIG. 7, and FIG. 8, at an upper portion of thebackside of the second holder section 50, a first engaging section 60having a hook-like shape when viewed from the lateral direction isprovided. The first engaging section 60 includes an upper plate 62extending from the backside of the holding plate 52 at an upper portionthereof, and lower plate 64 provided at a rear end of the upper plate 62and extending downwardly, thereby forming the hook-like shape. A gapbetween the lower plate 64 and the holding plate 52 corresponds to thethickness of the coupling plate 38 provided on the first holder section10A in the front-back direction.

The window 58 is formed at an upper portion of the central portion ofthe holding plate 52, the central portion being at a central portion inthe horizontal direction. On both the upper right and left sides of thewindow 58, guide plates 66 each having a predetermined height areprovided. The guide plates 66 are provided on the backside 53 of theholding plate 52 approximately at right angles thereto, and are curvedto be downwardly spread when viewed from the back. The distance a1between the upper ends of the right and left guide plates 66 correspondsto the width of the coupling plate 38 of the first holder section 10A inthe horizontal direction.

A screw holding member 68 is provided beneath the window 58. The screwholding member 68 is formed in such a manner as to correspond to thescrew section 49 around the through hole 48 provided in the front plate46 of the first holder section 10A.

A second engaging section 70 is provided beneath the screw holdingmember 68. The second engaging section 70 is formed of two right andleft longitudinal pieces 72 provided in opposition to each other with acentral gap held between them. The gap between the longitudinal pieces72 is provided in such a manner as to correspond to the engaging piece47 (see FIG. 2) formed on the front plate 46 of the lower holdingsection 18 of the first holder section 10A.

As shown in FIG. 2, the engaging piece 47 is provided in thelongitudinal direction at the central portion of the front plate 46 inthe horizontal direction. Further, the engaging piece 47 has a width ofan upper portion thereof and width of a lower portion thereof differentfrom each other. The width of the upper portion is formed somewhatnarrower than the width of the gap between the longitudinal pieces 72 ofthe second engaging section 70. The width of the lower portion is formednarrower than the width of the second engaging section 70 and wider thanthe width of the gap between the longitudinal pieces 72. Furthermore,the engaging piece 47 is formed in such a manner that the thicknessthereof in the front-back direction is somewhat thinner than the gapbetween the longitudinal pieces 72 and the holding plate 52 in thefront-back direction.

The supporting guides 54 of the second holder section 50 are provided onthe right and left sides of the holding plate 52 with an intervalcorresponding to the width of the mobile PC 100 held between them. Thesupporting guides 54 forwardly extend from the holding plate 52, and aninwardly bent section 74 is formed at the front edge of each of thesupporting guides 54. Each of the bent sections 74 has a heightcorresponding to the thickness of the mobile PC 100. Thereby, the mobilePC 100 arranged between the right and left supporting guides 54 issupported by the supporting guides 54.

The bottom plate 56 forwardly extends from the lower end of holdingplate 52 by a predetermined length. The lower side face of the mobile PCstored in the space between the right and left supporting guides 54comes into contact with the bottom plate 56, and the mobile PC 100 issupported by the bottom plate 56 from below.

Next, an example for attaching the mobile PC 100 and the port expansionadaptor 102 to the display 12 by using the holder 202 according to thesecond embodiment will be described below. First, as shown in FIG. 5 andFIG. 9, the first holder section 10A is fixed to the VESA mount section29 on the backside 13 of the display 12 by means of the male screws 15.After the first holder section 10A is fixed to the display 12, the firstengaging section 60 of the second holder section 50 is hung on the upperportion of the coupling plate 38 of the first holder section 10A. At thesame time, the second engaging section 70 is fitted on the engagingpiece 47 of the first holder section 10A. Thereby, the second holdersection 50 is attached to the first holder section 10A. Thereafter, themobile PC 100 is attached to the second holder section 50, and the portexpansion adaptor 102 is inserted into the first holder section 10A.Thereby, the port expansion adaptor 102 and mobile PC 100 are attachedto the display 12 by means of the holder 202. It should be noted that byupwardly shifting the second holder section 50, and releasing theengagement between the second engaging section 70 and engaging piece 47,the second holder section 50 can be detached from the first holdersection 10A.

As described above, in the second embodiment too, the holder 202 whichcan attach the mobile PC 100 and port expansion adaptor 102 serving asan accessory thereof to the display 12 is provided. The port expansionadaptor 102 can easily be detached from the first holder section 10Aand, when the mobile PC 100 is not used, it is possible to electricallyconnect the port expansion adaptor 102 to some other device and use it.

Furthermore, in the holder 202, the first holder section 10A that storestherein the port expansion adaptor 102 and the second holder section 50that stores therein the mobile PC 100 are members independent of eachother, and it is possible to attach only the first holder section 10A tothe display 12. Accordingly, in the first embodiment, when the width ofthe mobile PC 100 is wider than the size of the VESA standard, it is notpossible to pass the screws 15 through the through holes 26 due to theexistence of the mobile PC 100. However, according to the secondembodiment, even when the width of the mobile PC 100 is wider than thesize of the VESA standard, only the first holder section 10A can beattached to the display 12, and hence even in the case of the mobile PC100 having a greater width, attachment can be carried out. Although inthe first embodiment, the mobile PC 100 is fixed to the holder 10 bymeans of the screws 40, in the second embodiment, the mobile PC 100 isdetachably stored in the second holder section 50. Accordingly, it ispossible to detach the mobile PC 100 from the holder 202 attached to thedisplay 12, and use the detached mobile PC 100 for some other purpose.Furthermore, when the number of mobile PCs 100 is smaller than thenumber of displays 12, it is possible to detach the mobile PC 100together with the second holder section 50 from the first holder section10A of the holder 202 attached to the display 12, and attach thedetached members to a first holder section 10A of a holder 202 attachedto another display 12. Thereby, it is possible to cause one mobile PC100 to be used by a plurality of displays 12.

It should be noted that although the second holder section 50 is engagedwith the first holder section 10A in the vertical direction by means ofthe first engaging section 60 and the second engaging section 70, themanner of engagement associated with the first engaging section 60 andthe second engaging section 70 is not limited to this. The second holdersection 50 may also be engaged with the first holder section 10A in thehorizontal direction.

In the second embodiment, the mobile PC 100 is detachably attached tothe second holder section 50, and is not attached to the first holdersection 10A by means of the male screws 40 (see FIG. 1) unlike the firstembodiment, and hence the mobile PC 100 need not be provided with femalescrews.

APPLICATION EXAMPLE

Although the first and second embodiments have been described by takingthe flat-type VESA mount 29 as an example, the types of the VESA mounts29 include a raised-type in which a mount is formed on a convex portionraised from the backside of the display 12, and recessed-type in which amount is formed in a concave portion recessed from the backside of thedisplay 12. FIG. 10 shows an example in which the holder 202 of thesecond embodiment is attached to a display 12A including a recessed-typeVESA mount. A concave section 21 is provided in the backside 13 of thedisplay 12A at a center thereof, and a recessed-type VESA mount section29A is provided on the bottom surface of the concave section 21. Whenthe holder 202 is attached to the VESA mount section 29A, extensionscrews 31A are used to be connected between the female screw 30 and themale screws 15.

The extension screw 31A has a length equal to the depth of the concavesection 21 and, when the extension screw 31A is screwed into the femalescrew 30 of the VESA mount section 29A, the height of the top face ofthe extension screw 31A is aligned with the height of the backside 13 ofthe display 12 other than the concave section 21. By using suchextension screws 31A, it is possible to attach the holder 202 of thesecond embodiment to also the display 12A including the recessed-typeVESA mount. It should be noted that the holder is not limited to theholder 202 of the second embodiment, and it is likewise possible toattach the holder 10 of the first embodiment to the display 12Aincluding the recessed-type VESA mount.

The manner of attaching a holder to a display including a raised-typeVESA mount is identical to the attaching manner of each of the first andsecond embodiments described with reference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 9, andhence a detailed description thereof is omitted.

While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments havebeen presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit thescope of the inventions. Indeed, the novel embodiments described hereinmay be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, variousomissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the embodimentsdescribed herein may be made without departing from the spirit of theinventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intendedto cover such forms or modifications as would fall within the scope andspirit of the inventions.

What is claimed is:
 1. A holder that attaches a first electronic device and a second electronic device to a display, the holder comprising: a first holder section comprising a group of through holes that receives a group of male screws to be screwed into a group of female screws of the display, and storing the first electronic device; and a second holder section that attaches to the first holder section and stores the second electronic device wherein the first holder section comprises a first engaging section, the second holder section comprises a second engaging section, and the first engaging section engages with the second engaging section, wherein the first holder section further comprises: a base plate comprising the group of through holes; an upper holding section, at an upper portion extending from the base plate, that holds the first electronic device; and a lower holding section, at a lower portion extending from the base plate, that holds the first electronic device; the upper holding section comprises: a pair of guides extending from the base plate; and a coupling member, substantially parallel to the base plate, that couples the pair of guides together, the base plate, the pair of guides, and the coupling member forming an insertion opening, wherein the holder receives the first electronic device through the insertion opening, wherein the holder permits the first electronic device to be removed from the holder through the insertion opening; the lower holding section comprises: a first bottom plate extending from the base plate; and a front plate extending from the first bottom plate and substantially parallel to the base plate, and the front plate comprises the first engaging section.
 2. The holder of claim 1, wherein the base plate, the pair of guides, the coupling member, the first bottom plate, and the front plate are integrally formed.
 3. The holder of claim 1, wherein the second holder section further comprises: a holding plate; a second pair of guides that holds both side faces of the second electronic device; and a second bottom plate that supports a bottom face of the second electronic device; and the holding plate comprises: the second engaging section; and an engaging piece that engages with the coupling member of the upper holding section.
 4. The holder of claim 3, wherein the holding plate, the pair of guides, and the second bottom plate are integrally formed.
 5. The holder of claim 1, wherein the group of through holes comprises four through holes formed at four corners of the base plate.
 6. The holder of claim 1, wherein the group of female screws are a first group of female screws that conforms to a Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) standard mount of a first size or a second group of female screws conforming to the VESA standard mount of a second size is formed in the display, and the group of through holes are a first group of through holes that receives corresponding male screws to be screwed into the first group of female screws or a second group of through holes for the second group of female screws is formed in the base plate. 